Date   : Fri, 23 Feb 2007 01:18:55 +0000 (GMT)
From   : debounce@... (Greg Cook)
Subject: Mailing list headers (was: BBC Master 128 problem)

On Wed, 21 Feb 2007 13:46:52 -0600, Jules Richardson
<julesrichardsonuk@...> wrote:

> Andrew Benham wrote:
> > so, assuming one knows how to use ones email client, one can use
> > "Reply to all" rather than "Reply to sender" to send the email
> > reply to the list.
> 
> Is Thunderbird broken in this regard, then? "reply to" goes to the
> individual. 
> "reply to all" goes to the individual in the "to:" field, and the
> list in the 
> "cc:" field. In other words, the message *still* needs editing to
> remove the 
> individual [1] and the change the "cc" to a "to" [2].

Unavoidable for now, as the mailer can't tell a list address from a
personal address with any degree of certainty.  It can get a clue from
List-... fields in the message, but if they're absent or it doesn't
support them, the message is just a blind carbon copy.

> I'd be
> surprised that 
> one of the most popular modern mail clients didn't follow the spec,
> but it's 
> possible.
> 
> [1] There's absolutely zero point in sending a message to an
> individual when 
> they're subscribed to the list and hence going to see it anyway -
> that's just 
> a waste.

Identical addresses notwithstanding, the mailer can't work out that the
individual will get two copies* (unless it understands List-...
headers, in which case there's probably a reply-to-list option anyway.)
 Besides, automatically replying to the To: and Cc: addresses in a
blind carbon copy is unsafe (see RFC 2822, s.5, second paragraph.) IMHO
apart from mailing lists, it's not polite either.

* But the list server can; it would be possible to suppress copies to
list members named in the Destination Address fields (ss. 3.6.3,
3.6.6.)      Similarly with From:, so the server can avoid returning
you your own posts.

While duplicate copies are a topic well worth further study, Reply-To:
munging is a separate issue, except use of the Reply-To: field implies
the From: address should be ignored, and so munging stops duplicates as
a side effect.

I appreciate there are at least two ways of looking at it; (a) mailing
list as shared address book, (b) mailing list as forum.  In the latter
case Reply-To munging is appropriate, with the caveat of accidental
broadcasts.  You know, I think I'm beginning to change my mind.

Link: ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc2822.txt

Greg Cook
debounce@...
http://homepages.tesco.net/~rainstorm/


       
       
               
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